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Philip Wakeham

Philip Wakeham's bronzes are all unique and in great demand both in the UK and internationally. He casts all his work himself, therefore the entirety of the complex and labour intensive process is controlled by his own hand, however, experimentation and chance play their parts.
Wakeham studied at Exeter College of Art and the Royal Academy of Art. He initially worked with pewter, working with the late Tom Neal on a number of notable commissions including the Millennium Bowl, along with Christopher Laurence for the Worshipful Company of Pewterers, and two commemorative plaques for the Museum of Rowing in Henley to mark its opening by HM The Queen. He designed and made The Seahorse Covered cup which was later bought by the Alex Neish Museum of British Pewter (now at the Smith Museum in Stirling) as well as The Swans table centrepiece which was commissioned by the then Master of the Worshipful Company of Poulterers.
Now he works solely with bronze.

What inspires Philip Wakeham's designs? "My work is very much rooted in the figurative tradition and the natural and man-made environment, whilst drawing on the ideas of Carl Jung and Iain McGilchrist.
The beginning point for my work is the human face & body. Ideas such as myth and the divided brain are central to my work & belief in the fundamental importance of visual art in being human.
I start by working in clay from life, then through a complex series of processes, end with the completed work in bronze. Unlike most sculptors I cast my own work in bronze, this allows me to use the whole process in a creative way, and so essential to producing true beauty and fidelity.
It is the human face and body that links all my work even when the natural and man-made imagery are seemingly disparate. Because I create the whole work from the original to the bronze casting I can control the process. As important as control is, chance and serendipity are essential to the work, breathing in a life and reality that can't be faked."